BBS in a Box 3/BBS in a box - Trilogy III.iso/Files/Tele/C/CPFaces/ReadMe.faces

Text File | 1990-09-30 | 9.1 KB | 185 lines | [TEXT/TABY]

About CounterPoint Faces
_______________________________________________________________________

CounterPoint, by Mike Lininger, has the astounding ability to display an
icon representing the “face” of the author and the addressee of each
message you read. Now you can get an idea of what all those other folks
out in netland look like!  (are we sure we want to know???)

To display faces, CounterPoint compares the name in the “From” and “To”
fields of each message to a list of names contained in the “Faces” file
which resides in your Mail folder.  If it finds a match, it looks for an
icon with the same name and number, and places the icon in the message
commands area of the “Read Messages” window.

CounterPoint comes with a limited, trial-size supply of faces.  If
you want more faces, you’re going to have to help out -- here’s how:



To add faces to your “Faces” file (ResEdit required)
_______________________________________________________________________

First, a quick and dirty explanation for those who know their way around
ResEdit:  1) create an ICON resource with your face having an ID number
<30000 and a name corresponding to your net name;  2) paste that ICON
into the CounterPoint “Faces” file.  Add your name to the STR resource,
followed by a caret (^) and a unique ID number >30000.  Change the ID
number of the ICON resource you just pasted to correspond to the STR ID
you assigned, and check to make sure the name is correct.

Now for the more detailed explanation:

The “Faces” file contains two resource types:  1) a STR resource --
which contains a list of names; and, 2) a group of ICON resources --
which are the face images.  To have your face appear when you’re reading
messages from yourself, or to assign strange and unusual visages to
other folks who commonly enter messages on the net, you’re going to have
to change those resources. (EGAD!! ME fool with resources?!? Are you out
of your MIND?!?)  Never fear, it’s not all that difficult, and safe as
houses:

1)  Create the face ICON.

You can do this with Apple’s ResEdit or with any of several public
domain and shareware icon editors.  A copy of the free icon editor,
“ICONstructor” is included as a separate archive with this file.  The
instructions that follow assume the use of ResEdit.  If you are using
some other icon editor, you’ll have to adapt the use of it to the
following.  Read on.

ResEdit has a built-in MacPaint-like icon editor.  To use it, launch
ResEdit, and create a “New” (from the “File” menu) resource file.

Once you’ve got a new file, you can make an ICON resource.  Choose
“Create Resource Type” from the “Resource” menu.  You’ll get a dialog
box with a scrolling list of resource types.  Select “ICON” from this
list, and click “OK“. Be sure the resource you create is an ICON, not a
ICN#. These resources are very similar, but CounterPoint likes ICONs.
CounterPoint doesn’t currently deal with cicn’s or icl8’s (color icons),
so you don’t need to make these resources.  You can go ahead and make
them and include them in your faces file it you like (they’ll be roundly
ignored), because who knows what the future will bring, and, hey, it’s
only disk space.

Resedit will then open up a window without just a heck of a lot in it.
But, if you click in the middle of the white space, then click again,
you’ll begin to get the hang of it.  You’re painting in FatBits, and a
life-sized copy of what you’re painting appears just to the right of
where you’re painting.

After you’ve clicked and painted to your heart’s content, close up the
window you’ve been working in, and note that your newly-created face is
now smiling back at you from the ICONs window.  Choose “Get Resource
Info” (command-I) from the “Resource” menu, and you’ll get a little
dialog with places to fill in an ID number and a name.  Give the ICON
resource the same name as the name you use when you participate in the
echos.  The resource ID number isn’t important at this stage, give it
any ID you want, but avoid numbers greater than 30000 (to prevent
conflicts at a later step).  Just give it ID 12345 and you’ll be safe.

There are other ways to create face icons, which I won't describe in
detail here.  If you have access to a scanner or video digitizer, it's
possible to create some really slick-looking icons.  The icon for Mark
Bryant, for example, in the distibution version of the Faces file was
created using the MacVision video digitizer and QuickGif Plus.  Email
me if you want details of how this was done.


2)  Copy the face ICON into CounterPoint’s “Faces” file.

Got it all saved?  OK -- use ResEdit to open the “Faces” file in
CounterPoint’s “Mail” folder.  (If you have CounterPoint open and
running under MultiFinder, you’ll need to quit it first).  Also open the
file containing the ICON resource you just created.  Inspect the STR
resource in CounterPoint’s Faces file by double-clicking on the STR
resource in the window.  There’s just one of them, ID number 101, and it
contains a list of names.  You’ll notice that each of the names has a
caret (^) (that’s Shift-6 on your keyboard) and an ID number after each
person’s name.  Add your name to the bottom of the list, along with a
caret and an ID number one higher than the last name in the list.  For
example, if the last name in the list is “Elmer Fudd^30009” and your
name is Yosemite Sam, you would add the string “Yosemite Sam^30010” to
the end of the list.  Remember the ID number that you assign to
yourself.

Close up the STR resource, and open the ICON resource type in the file.
There’s a mess of ICONs in there -- one for each of the people in the
list.  Activate the window for the file that contains your newly-created
Face ICON.  Open the ICON resource type and select your face by clicking
on it (OUCH!).  Use the “Edit” menu to copy the ICON to the clipboard.
Now activate the Faces file window, and make sure the window with the
ICONs displayed is active. Use the “Edit” menu to paste your face into
the window.  You probably assigned it ID #12345, so you’ll need to
change that.  (STOP!! make sure that you don’t paste an ICON into the
file that has the same ID number as one that already exists!!)  “Get
Info” on the ICON resource containing your face, and change the ID
number to correspond to the ID number you associated with your name
earlier, when you were editing STR resources. Double-check to make sure
that the name of the ICON is the same as the name you created in the STR
resource list.  Note that here, the ID number is just the ID number of
the ICON, and the name is just your name -- none of the business with
the caret character.

That’s it.  Just save the “Faces” file, quit ResEdit, and launch
CounterPoint. The faces you’ve just installed will now appear whenever
the names you entered appear in the “From” field of any message.



How to add your face to the distribution version of the face file (OR,
how to take the paper bag off your head and escape the faceless
masses....)
_______________________________________________________________________

The “Faces” file that you received with CounterPoint contains a
collection of faces that have been gathered during beta-testing.  Not
too many folks, out of the large numbers that frequent the net.  This
will really only be fun for all if a large number of faces are
distributed universally among users of CounterPoint.

Mark Bryant at The Bull Creek BBS (1:382/54), [phone] (HST), will
act as the “Keeper of the Faces” (with apologies to EEE).  The latest
version of the “Faces” file will always be available for download or
file request (freq) at that address, by the filename “CPFaces.SIT”.  No
password is required for freq.  The file will be updated continuously,
as I receive faces.  If you’re a Tabby sysop, you can freq at any time
other than ZMH.  If you’re not a sysop, politely encourage your sysop to
freq the file at his or her convenience.  I’ll also upload a copy
periodically to the MAC RT on GEnie.

There are several ways that you can spread your mug across the universe
by getting your face included in the distribution version of the Faces
file.  First, just create your face ICON, according to the instructions
above, but keep a copy separate from your CounterPoint Faces file,
containing just your face and name.  Send that copy to Mark using one of
the following methods:

1)  Get your sysop to collect faces for his or her BBS, and send the
    collection if ICONs off to Bull Creek as a file attachment.

2)  Use Binhex, Stuffit, or any other utility capable of creating Binhex
    (.hqx) files, to transform the file containing your face into a
    binhex-formatted text file.  Once you’ve done this, you can send the
    file as part of a mail message:

   a) using FidoNet netmail -- to Mark Bryant at 1:382/54.1
   b) as a public message in the C_POINT echo (if your BBS carries it).
   c) using GEnie email -- M.BRYANT
   d) using CI$ EasyPlex -- 75146,2345
   e) using MCI Mail -- Mark T. Bryant
   f) on the internet -- [e-mail]

   Binhex’d face files are so tiny they work well as part of an email
msg.


That’s about it for now -- be “seeing” you on the echos!

Mark Bryant
Saving face at Bull Creek.....

Sunday, September 23, 1990
3:10:21 PM